RB Miller day-to-day with shoulder injury
One day after Texans running back Lamar Miller gutted it out to play through a painful shoulder injury against the Denver Broncos, coach Bill O’Brien characterized his status as day-to-day.
Miller injured his shoulder when he collided with Broncos rookie safety Will Parks along the sideline at the end of a 25-yard run in the first quarter of a 27-9 road loss to the defending Super Bowl champions.
Miller eventually went back into the game, but he split time with backup Alfred Blue and finished with 61 yards on 11 carries.
Miller has rushed for 581 yards and one touchdown through seven games, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.
“Yeah, I think he’s doing better,” O’Brien said. “He’d definitely be in the day-to-day category, though. With the short week here, we’ll have to see how he is. But I give the guy a lot of credit.
“He’s a tough guy. He’s a pro football player. He really came back and kept wanting to play, and I think that’s good.
Blue loses key fumble
The football popped out of the hands of running back Alfred Blue as Broncos safety Darian Stewart delivered a punishing helmet hit.
It was a crucial turnover as Broncos inside linebacker Todd Davis recovered to shut down a potential scoring drive Monday night.
The Texans were trailing just 14-9 at the time, but the Broncos capitalized on Blue’s fumble and scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive.
“The safety just made a good play,” Blue said. “He was lower than me and I couldn’t get down low enough to take care of the ball. He put his helmet right on the ball.
“You can’t turn the ball over in this league and expect to win. The team with the least amount of turnovers is going to win. You just can’t turn it over.”
Blue finished the day with 63 yards on 11 carries. He’s rushed for 161 yards for the season and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
“I thought Blue, other than the fumble, I thought Blue ran the ball hard, too,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said.
CB Bouye a bright spot
It was a rough night overall for the Texans’ defense, largely unable to slow down the Broncos’ offense.
It was another strong performance, though, by emerging cornerback A.J. Bouye.
The Broncos tried to go after Bouye early in the game, but he held up well as he had two pass deflections and a team-high and career-high 11 tackles.
“I already had it in my mind that it was going to be like that,” Bouye said. “That’s (Broncos coach Gary Kubiak) over there and he already knew stuff about me, so I took it as a challenge. It kind of got me more excited. I just tried to step up.”
Bouye left the game briefly due to muscle cramps, heading inside the locker room for an IV before returning.
“My leg locked up and I had to come in and get an IV, but I was able to get back out there,” Bouye said. “I’ll be fine. I just have to hydrate better.”
The Texans are extremely impressed with the former undrafted free agent. He leads the AFC South franchise with eight passes defended and also has 27 tackles and one sack.
“Yeah, he was definitely one of the bright spots,” coach Bill O’Brien said. “He played really well. He played at a very high level. He tackled well, he covered well. He’s playing very well.”
Throughout the season, Bouye has delivered for the defense against wide receivers and tight ends.
“I think anytime he’s been in there he’s played well,” veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph said. “He’s grown over the years into a complete player and for us a defense. He’s a big part of what we do.”
LB Moses gets tryout
The Texans auditioned former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Dezman Moses, according to a league source not authorized to speak publicly.
Moses is a former undrafted free agent from Tulane who signed with Green Bay out of college.
Special-teams ace Brian Peters has missed the past two games with a quadriceps injury, and rookie outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett was placed on injured reserve last week with a hamstring injury.